Punctuality and Rights of the Madressa

Maulana al-Haaj Inayat Ilahi Rahmatullah Alayh was the principal of the Madressa. (May Allah grant him a lofty place in paradise). He was not only the principal but also a Mufti and all the Madressa's legal affairs were entrusted to him. Apart from that he was also respon­sible for collecting funds monthly.

Whenever the collector came to report someone not having given his monthly contributions towards Madressa expen­diture after having already been to him once or twice, he himself would on his way to or from the Madressa to his house, go to that person and request the voluntary pay­ment, explaining that the funds did not yet come in. The manner of soliciting would be so beautiful as to be effec­tive. We cannot go into detail in this short discussion. Anyway, in his office he had two ink-stands and pens, one belonging to the Madressa and the other being his own together with some personal writing paper. Whenever he had to write any personal letters, he used his own pen and paper, not the Madressa's.

He used to come to the office at eight o'clock in the winter and at about seven o'clock in summer, leaving only after Asr. After working the whole afternoon, he visited the houses of contributors towards Madressa funds en route to and from the office.

In spite of that, Hazrat Saharanpuri Rahmatullah Alayh once or twice recommending an increase in salary for the other officials insisted that his increase be withheld, because of his arriving at Madressa late in the morning. I immediately indicated that he worked for more than six hours daily, but Hazrat in spite of recommendations and pleas by others persisted, saying: "Punctuality is of the ut­most importance for Madressa employees."

Love for the Hadith and Sunnah, and Respect in Differences of Opinion

Hazrat Shaykh (نور الله مرقده)'s attitude regarding those who had a different opinion to him is remarkable and one worthy of following. Note: that the Ahlul Hadeeth are a group who do not find it acceptable, in their opinion, to be affliliated to a Madhab. They are also known as Salafis.

During my early days of teaching, a certain Ahl-e-Hadith follower, whose name I have forgotten, came to my room quite often. There must still be quite a number of his own publications such as "Meezaanul-Shariat" lying around somewhere in my room.

Although he was blind, he used to collect all the Hadith from Mishkat which favored the mazhab of the Ahlul-Hadith. He would collect ehm in small booklets with very little commentary. For example one was on "Babul-Wudhoo", one on "Babul-Tayammum", "Babul-Haidh", etc. He wrote them himself and had them printed himself and he sold them himself.

Whenever he came to Saharanpur, he stayed at my place and in Deoband, he was the guest of Maulana Anwar Shah Kahsmiri (rh). He had a habit of going into the classrooms and presenting one copy to the teachers. Because of Hazrat Anwar Shah and me, all the other teachers came to know him quite well. Most teachers after accepting a free copy, still paid him the three annas or more and often encouraged students to also purchase from him.

Many people however used to excuse themselves from buying because the booklets only contained those Hadith which favoured the Ahlul-Hadith. I however, always used to purchase twenty five to thirty copies, while Maulana Anwar Shah used to purchase about a hundred and fifty and we both used to pay him more than the prescribed price. We felt that was our duty in view of his service to Hadith, as well as our duties as his hosts. The booklets were always distributed among the student, telling them that although the booklets favoured the Ahlul-Hadith view, it did after all contain Hadith with translations. We did not however, distribute the booklets in his presence, as it would adversely affect his sales.

There must still be some copies in my own library on which his name and address will be found. He was blind and there always used to be a young boy guiding him around. At night he always sat near me when he made up his accounts. The price of all the booklets were written on the covers, but he never used to tell anyone the price. Whoever wished was allowed to give whatever he wished and whatever was given was given was accepted with pleasure.

When he made up his accounts he used to say: "Two copies at two annas each, three copies at three annas each and eight at "Jazakallah" each."

He was a very simple person and at that time my own relations with the Ahlul-Hadith was good. They very often came to me. In both Deoband and Saharanpur, there were many Ahlul-Hadith students, but they never disclosed their adherence to the Ahlul-Hadith.

I told them not to hide their mazhab from me. They could come to my hosue at any time to discuss their problems. Some students (may Allah reward them) came to me to be connected in bay'at.

Some of them even suggested that should I demand of them, they would stop "raf-ul-yadayn" [raising the hands], "ameen-bil-jahr" [saying ameen loudly], etc., but I told them: You people are doing those things in your earnest desire to implement Rasulullah صلى الله عليه و سلم's commands and practices. How can I ever prohibit you from doing so?"

Aap Beti, Page 556-558

The Warmth of Sincerity

Often times we make use of facilities that are in front of us in our Madrasas, Masaajid, workplaces without the thought ever crossing our minds that these things are not our property. In this section, Hazrat Shaykh (نور الله مرقده) explains that sincerity that some of his Akaabir and contemporaries had in regards to the Madressa's rights on them. This excerpt is about his father, Maulana Yahya (نور الله مرقده).

During my father's time, the Madressa did not yet have a kitchen to supply students, nor was there a cook or restaurant in the vicinity of the Madressa. Because his family was not staying here, his food was coming from a cook who had restaurant near Jamia Masjid. His name was Ismail. From the time that the food arrived till the time that that he ate it, the food used to get cold, especially during the cold days of winter. Then he placed the pot with food in front of the Madressa's hamaam (the fireplace heating the water), not in it, and so the food would become warmed by the hamaam's heat. Then he used to contribute two or three rupees monthly towards the Madressa funds, saying that he had derived some benefit of the fire of Madressa. He never took any salary from the Madressa for services rendered to teaching.

That's Not My Job!

Here Hazrat Shaykh (نور الله مرقده) explains the attitude that he, the other teachers, and the students of the madressa had towards work pertaining to the madressa, and laments the current attitudes toward madressa duties. This scribe would like to add that if we try to apply this attitude towards our masaajid and towards duties in our home lives, there will be a very positive impact, Inshallah.

In those days this used to be my golden rule and that of practically every teacher, employee and official of the madressa. The madressa was not our property and whatever we received from or through it was firstly looked upon as a favour from Allah's side and secondly as a favor from the madressa, not a right. We have no right due upon the madressa. And we did not feel ashamed of any task that had to be done for the madressa, no matter how small and insignificant, like sweeping the classroom.

I cannot remember if in those days it was ever necessary to call an employee to bring the clay stones for use during “istinja” in the toilets or to bring the wood for lighting the fire which heated the water. I told the gate-keeper to inform me in my class when the wagon bringing the clay bricks arrived. Then I would send a message to Maulana Abdur Rahman with a student to inform him that I was going downstairs. He too would then come downstairs and seeing us go down both classes would come running along to reach the wagon before us. We then would hardly be able to carry even one block of clay as the students would grab that fro our hands as we off-loaded the clay. Within a few minutes the wagon would be empty. Some students would carry one block while others, eager to show their strength would carry two at a time. There were many other tasks like these. But nowadays, if an employee or official of the madressa is being asked to pick up a hand fan, he will first consider and ponder as to whether this is his work or not, is he getting paid for it or not?

Aap Beti, Page 126

A Golden Rule

Here Hazrat Shaykh (رحمة الله عليه) explains a golden rule that he and his distinguished elders considered to be of the utmost importance.

There is one principal fact which our elders considered of paramount importance viz., that the rights of others which are due by you should be duly delivered and if there are any of your rights due upon others, they should not be demanded. My father [Maulana Yahya (رحمة الله عليه)] was a great protagonist of this and acted accordingly. He never used to consider what others were doing. He always used to worry about, "What should I do? What is my duty?"

The same principal will be found many times in the Malfoozaat of my late uncle Maulana Ilyas (رحمة الله عليه) as well as in the lectures of Maulana Yusuf (رحمة الله عليه). It is in fact derived from the hadith:

ليس الواصل بالمكافي ولاكن الواصل الذي إذا قطعت وصل

"The builder of good relations is not he who acts reciprocally (Acting in a friendly manner to those that befriend him), but is in fact the one who befriends those who cut themselves off from him" (Mishkat, Bukhary)

Aap Beti, Page 125